Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Heart disease is found in all countries and across all ages, socioeconomic levels, occupations, and sexes. Because heart disease is so universally common, the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease is an immensely important field.
One of the chief difficulties in examining the heart is that, as with all internal organs, the defects cannot be readily seen. It is therefore necessary to use some instrument that enables the user to “see” inside the organ. One of the processes that enables physicians in the treatment of hear disease is an electrophysiological examination. This examination requires the use of a catheter with a plurality of ring electrodes on a distal end. In addition to the ring electrodes, the catheter may also carry one or more probes at its distal tip.
The catheter is introduced through the patient's veins or arteries into the areas of the heart, or the associated blood vessels, which require analysis. Due to the many available probes and testing devices, it is not uncommon for the examining physician to have several catheters in use at a given time in a single patient's heart. When this is the case, the catheter entry path becomes very congested. Due to the relatively large size of existing diagnostic catheters, it is sometimes necessary to remove one catheter and replace it with another during a procedure. In addition to the distinct possibility of dislodging the already positioned catheters, the removal of a catheter can itself damage the organ if the catheter is removed improperly or becomes entangled with another catheter.
Another of the shortcomings in the prior art catheter devices is that they are very difficult to position correctly in the vessel or organ being examined. There are only very limited means of guiding the catheter. Smaller existing art catheters are generally provided with a fixed curvature at the distal end.
Another problem inherent in the prior art devices is that the shape of the probes on the distal ends of the catheters is fixed. This contributes to the problem of congestion in the entry path, as a different catheter must be introduced when the physician wishes to examine different vessel and organ wall shapes and sizes. When a basket catheter is being used, a sheath must be placed over the multiple probes or basket to introduce the catheter into the vessel.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophysiology catheter that comprises a means to steer the distal end while providing a main body that is more narrow than those of current art devices.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a catheter which allows the size, shape, and direction of travel of a probe to be changed while in the vessel or organ. This innovation is particularly applicable to basket catheters.